10/21/2012: Generosity and Ministry
It is important to appreciate that hospitality was something new. Cheap grace is the enemy of the church. It means forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth...an intellectual assent to that idea is held to be itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance...grace without discipleship, grace without a cross....Costly grace is the gospel the church...It is costly because it costs a man his life, and grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his son...it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God....When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die. That is why the rich young man was so loath to follow Jesus, for the cost of his following was the death of his will. In fact, every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts. — Dietrich Bonhoeffer Luke 9:49-10:2 49 “Master,” said John, “we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we tried to stop him, because he is not one of us.” 50 “Do not stop him,” Jesus said, “for whoever is not against you is for you.” 51 As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. 52 And he sent messengers on ahead, who went into a Samaritan village to get things ready for him; 53 but the people there did not welcome him, because he was heading for Jerusalem. 54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” 55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them, 56 and they went to another village. 57 As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 He said to another man, “Follow me.” But the man replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.” 60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 61 Still another said, “I will follow you, Lord; but first let me go back and say good-by to my family.” 62 Jesus replied, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” 10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. 2 He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (NIV) Generosity and Ministry We can be technically generous with our money but not radically generous with our heart. 1. The Generosity of Service Before this passage, the twelve disciples ("clergy") were sent out to preach the word, cast out demons, and cure the sick The seventy-two were sent out to do the same Seventy-two is symbolic of all; we are all sent out with the same call, the call to go out 2. The Generosity of Discipleship You will not know true generosity of service without devoting ourselves to Christ without reservation V. 57-58 Jesus says the man has not truly counted the cost The first one may not truly know how high the cost is; the second and third put family before Christ Patriarchal societies put family first; we too might put other things first (power, career) but we must not Two metaphors: *Hand to the plow (more obvious one) *Let the dead bury their dead-not physically dead, but spiritually dead **To not be aware of how necessary it is to give ourselves to God is spiritual deadness 3. The Generosity of Grace 49-50: the disciples are not generous of spirit 51-55: transfiguration just before; thinking of Elijah Luke 12:49 NKJV “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! Brought fire on himself Two implications: 1. We don't call fire down on anybody else 2. Don't be afraid to follow him - he knows exactly what we need